vishaldpatel

touche..

And if you're a startup CEO, you keep a really big stack of envelopes for continual reorganization and starting-again :D

What? No built-in webcam!? :P

People have posted their iPhone apps here before.

I have fun questions: Who is the target audience for this letter? What is it trying to achieve? How effective is this letter in its current state in a) reaching the target audeience and b) achieving its goals?

My first thought was, "Thats kinda cool!" =)

Being in a start up is a game. We have an idea and we are playing the game to make that idea as successful as possible. We need tools in this game - engineers, lawyers, accountants etc.. are all tools. Some tools are more useful in the beginning than others. Some tools become more important as our startup matures.

Now MBA is this awesome general degree that teaches you a bit of everything - accounting, sales, some business law. This makes you a versatile tool! :D. The question is, do you know how to best serve a startup? What can you do? What do you want to do? How will you make up for your lack of experience in a certain area - can you learn quickly? Adapt?

Many startups these days start out with the core team being engineers - they're looking to build something, so it makes sense. That said, some startups may do well with a gritty MBA who can go out there and talk to tons of people to generate / prove ideas and report back to the engineering team; take care of accounting; HR stuff if need be; etc... basically it means being the CEO from day one without worrying about the title.

Is that what you're looking for or do you just want a cusy desk job as a junior manager? ;)

Some of these ideas are pretty cool.. here's my take if you care to read:

#1 is a great idea. Really really great idea. There are a couple of things to consider (I'm sure you've already thought of them) - mainly even healthier restaurants have unhealthy items and the reverse applies to unhealthier restaurants. There ought to be a way for limitation and inclusion. Attemtping a partnership with Yelp might be of some use interms of trying to keep partner restaurants honest.

Also, like any association - the guidelines of this healthy-restaurant-coupon-association will be public and under intense scrutiny - especially from the big boys in the food industry.

#2 - This is a bit crowded right now.

#3 - I don't know if this is already being done and if so, in what capacity, but.. there are many resources for building confidence, empowerment etc... this will be a marketing-heavy project.

#4 - So now rich people have even more escape route incase they blow up the world ten times over? :P. I think its a fantastic idea... fear sells. This is a well-known fact.

#5 - Pretty cool. How about a cross-roads style exchange program built into a basic-goods store instead? I bet someone like IKEA could probably run this (not sure if it has already been pitched). This has cool written all over it. One might even get away with running it like Netflix (order a care package... it comes with a box that you can return the whole thing in).

#6 - Neato. I'll second that AirBnB can already do this with their existing tech... but why would they want to? Unless they're really looking to expand their business horizontally. On the other hand, craigslist could really do this and they wouldn't be shifting focus at all (its just office space for rent).

#7 - A way to "humanize" them isn't good enough. We're talking about putting people's pictures and stories online - I mean, its bad enough that these people have zero privacy. There have to be massive benefits for them to want to do this... why should I, homeless Joe, tell you my story? Whats in it for me? Whats in it for anyone?

There's a spreadsheet of people available to join a startup floating around on HN. I'd highly recommend contacting some of them - there are some amazingly talented people on it!

Anyone got the link? Anyone...? :)

But you fail to account for all the starcraft 2 related projects that will crop up and the revitalization of starcraft related businesses ;)

Ah yes, hope springs eternal :P

There can be only one explanation. Posterous was hacked!

I wonder how many of us complainers about how we're all disconnected actually try to a) go out an make friends, b) do something for others in the neighborhood, c) basically get off our asses (and the internets) and go interact and be a part of the community.

Pretty good oath for being a good human being all around ... not just for engineers.

Hahaha.. Adobe should pick this up and run with it as a joke. Flash on the iPhone here we come.

So umm.. who wins if these limits are successfully put in place?

Alright; its time to resubmit my apps that ridiculed public figures and see what Apple says.

Good timing =)

Not a new direction. Our apps (two of them) were banned for the same reasons a year ago.

In this case, where companies put out job ads, yes! It is usually pretty one-sided, at least, in the beginning.

If by cheapest you mean, a good cog for a good price, then yes, that is exactly what an employer wants. At the end of the day, everyone likes to feel like a winner.

While it would be nice for everyone to be great and welcoming from the outset, it isn't realistic to have that expectation. If we inspect the job ads out there, it is pretty obvious that many employers feel that they can get away with a crappy job ad but still get the cog of their needs with it. So this may not be sheer luck - there are probably more good developers than companies with great job descriptions.

But yes, I do agree that a company can increase its chances significantly by tailoring a job description to its intended audience a bit better (but perhaps they already are? ;)).

Hmm.. this viewpoint needs a bit of balancing: - An employer has money and needs a developer. A developer needs the money. If the employer has foresight, then the developer is at a disadvantage in this early stage of the relationship because it allows the employer to put out a ridiculous sounding job requirement yet still get a decent developer by playing the numbers game (interview lots of devs; hire one temporarily and fire them if they're no good.. then hire another etc...).

With that in mind, lets look at the points: #1) We need some guy who should probably know all these things because we use them all.. somewhere.. in our organization. The more they know all these thing, the more useful they'll be to us from day 1.

#2) We need someone who has a pair. Either from experience or sheer will. Come in and show us that you're the one we need. If the big numbers scare you, then you're probably not our guy anyway. We also use a few old technologies that have served us very well - it would be fantastic if you already know them.

#3) You're not a unique or a beautiful little snowflake. You'll find out how we work when you get here. If you can't adapt, you'll leave - probably against your will.

#4) The last guy who did this job was awesome. He worked hard to help us become who we are now. We expect no less of you.

#5) We do things a certain way and it seems to be working for us. We expect you to respect that, considering we don't even know you yet. You'll have plenty of opportunity to help make this a more welcoming place if a) we hire you, and b) you don't forget all these pain points once you come on board, and are motivated to do more than just your job description.

Jobs are like girlfriends (or boyfriends) are like most relationships. They may or may not start out smoothly. You'll find out that they're single (existence of job ad), kinda cute ($, benefits), and maybe, but they might only be nice to their friends and a firewall to everyone else (job description / initial response etc..). They are all different, and it is up to you to find one to fall in-love with.

I don't need to know why I don't listen! =P

I have a small blog here: www.seevishal.com. In it I keep a log of what I've eaten for the past week. Many of the things I make take 15-20 minutes to prepare, taste pretty damn good and are good for you.

Here here!

It'll force some restaurants to rethink their menus.

But before you comment on how much you think its worth, have you actually tried it? =)

Anyone have a write-up on the limitations of html5 webapps vs. native apps? eg. push-notification only available through native apps?

You read for a whole 3 minutes? I'd call that a success on his part. And if the grammatical errors stopped you from reading further, then perhaps you're not his target audience ;)

Looks like a great app. I'd spend a few hours to pretty it up... but I say go ahead and submit it!

Man it must really suck to be the guy thats only making 100k but doing all the work, and finding out that some guy in the next cubicle negotiated 600k, and he spends all his time dickin' around with the secretary.